Brake mechanism for railway cars



July 21,- 1925. 1,546,917

P. B. CAMP BRAKE MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Jan. 28, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 Wm.- 1 02 09 ,3. Cam/i jaw July 21, 1925. 1,546,917

P. B. CAMP BRAKE MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Jan. 28, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 O O /5 7/ r2 r4 July 21, 1925.

P. B. CAMP BRAKE MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Jan. 28, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 II 1 IIII 1 W J .1 ll

I [nwnzmw 92 09 (am 2 W 770% Patented July 21, 1925. I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PERCY B. CAMP, OF MAYW'OOD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO UNIVERSAL DRAFT GEAR- ATTACHMENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

BRAKE MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

Application filed January 28, 1924. Serial No. 689,044.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERCY B. CAMP, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Maywood, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain .new and useful Improvements in Brake Mechanism for Railway Cars, of which the following is a specification, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention'relates to brake mechanisms for railway cars and has for its object broadly to permit the slack to be taken up quickly and the brakes to be applied with great pressure by hand power.

A further object of the invention is to provide a speed and power multiplying attachment for the conventional brake mechanisms such as is found on hopper cars, which attachment can be supplied at low cost and can be easily and quickly applied to the car by unskilled labor.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the disclosure proceeds and the description is read in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating selected embodiments of the invention and in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a hopper car and its brake mechanism, with one form of attachment applied thereto, the brakes being shown released;

Fig. 2 is a similar view with the brakes applied;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view partly illustrating the attachment; I

Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the bail forming part of the attachment;

Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 2 showing an alternative form;

- Fig. 7 is a plan View of the multiplying lever and the jaw or bracket forming part of the atatachement,

Figs. 8 and 9 are fragmentary elevations illustrating a construction especially suited for cars where the clearance is small;

Figs. 10 and 11 are similar views illus trating a construction having special advantages when the invention is applied to new cars;

Fig. 12 isla sectional view taken on the line 1212 of Fig. 11, and

Fig. 13 is a diagram of the attachment applied to a conventional form of inside brake to be found on hopper cars.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing a frag ment of a car 'underframe is shown at .10 carrying a hopper body 11, the inclined wall of which appears at 12. The brake cylinder 13 is suitably supported on the frame and has a push rod 14 pivoted to the cylinder lever 15, at 16. The cylinder lever has ts upper end pivoted to a bracket 17 and its lower end is connected with the brakes through the brake rod 18. The brake staff 19 is suitably mounted adjacent to the end of the car frame. All these parts may be of the usual or any preferred form.

In applying the attachment the brake large diameter that is connected at one end with a short drum surface 29 of small diameter by what may be called the leading face of the arm 28. A staff chain 30 has one end in winding engagement with the brake stafl' andextends over the surface of the arm 25 to a suitable shackle 31 at the rear face of the arm. The anchor arm 26 has a relative 17 long drum surface 32 of less diameter than the drum surface 27 of the staff arm, and this surface is arranged opposite to a portion 33 of relatively long radius. This latter portion is connected with one end of an anchor chain 34, the opposite end of which is anchored to the brake step or the like, by a shackle 35.

The arms 25 and 26, or some parts of them, are preferably arranged to take advantage of the fact that a point traveling in a circle will, in some arcs move principally in one direction, while in other arcs, they will move princi ally in another direction.

When the bra es are released the parts take a position in which the point 36 on the staff arm will first move principally in a direction transverse to the pull on the staff chain 30 and, therefore, a very short movement of chain will produce a wide angle of rotation. of the multiplying lever and quickly throw it to "a position approximating that'shown in Fig. 2 where the leverage of the staff arm is greatly increased. Similarly, the point 37 on the anchor arm first moves in the direction principally parallel to the pull on the anchorage and therefore a small movement of the chain 30 operates to quickly take up the slack as well as to shift from mechanical disadvantage to mechanical advantage by changing the lengths of the corresponding levers.

The normal position of the parts when the brakes are released takes care of any slack in the chain 30 and the bail 38 supported by the pin 21 serves to hold up the back of the anchor chain 34.

In the alternative form shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the special jaw or bracket 20 is dispensed with and the usual jaw 39 serves to connect the brake rod 18 with the cylinder lever 15 in the customary manner. The multiplying lever is carried by a bracket or jaw 40 secured to the lever just above the jaw 39. This bracket is provided with check plates ll which straddle the cylinder lever and are secured thereto by a pin 42. The multiplying lever is journaled on pin 43 supported in the side arms 44 which are connected together by an arched brace 45. The staff and anchor chains 30 and 34 are arranged as in the other form, except that the staff chain passes on one side of the cylinder lever and through the arch of the brace 45, and the anchor chain passes below the bracket 40 and on the opposite side of the cylinder lever.

With this form of attachment it is ad vantageous to have the winding engagement of the staff chain with the brake staff at a slightly higher point and for that reason an upturned bracket 46 may be fitted to the car underframe and form the bottom hearing for the staff. Preferably in both forms the brake staff is provided With a tapered winding cam 47 to constrain the chain to wind upwardly around the staff. This tends to keep the staff chain substantially horizontal and give the full benefit of the long leverage afiorded by the staff arm 25.

In Fig. 5 the upper end of the cylinder lever is pivoted to a brace 48 instead of to lever at and having arms 61 between which the lever is journaled on a pin 62.

In Figs. 9, 10 and 11, the arms 63 and 64 of the multiplying lever are carried by a shaft 65 having a cylindrical portion 66 journaled in the lever 15 and non-circular portions 67 and 68 receiving the arms 63 and 64. The non-circular portion 68 is illustrated as being tapered and the arm 64 In this,

is forced thereon by a nut 69 which may be locked with a cotter pin 70. A strap 71 socured to the lever at 72 is perforated at 73 to receive the opposite end of the shaft which may be also equipped with a cotter pin 74.

The brake rod 18 is connected with one end of the lever 49, (Fig. 8) the opposite end of which is connected by rod 50 with the live lever 51 which, in turn, is connected by the thrust rod 52 with the dead lever 53 and the brake beams 54, and brake shoes 55 are arranged in the usual or any preferred manner.

The invention permits the ordinary brake mechanism, such as found on hopper cars, to be readily converted into a device that will quickly take up the slack and then forcibly apply the brakes by hand power applied to the brake staff. It permits the multiplying device to be conveniently placed so as not to limit the range of the equipment. However, while the invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with hopper cars, it is also capable of other uses and may be embodied in other forms. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited except as is niade necessary by the prior art.

I claim as my invention-.

1. In a brake mechanism for railway cars, the combination of a car underframe, a hopper body having an inclined bottom, a cyhnder lever pivotally mounted between said inclined bottom and the underframe and having one end projecting below the latter and connected with the brakes, a brake stafi, a multiplying lever having a staff arm and an anchor arm on opposite sides of the plane of the cylinder lever, means for rotatably mounting the multiplying lever on the opposite side of the cylinder lever from the brake staff and connecting it with the cylinder lever, a chain connecting the staff arm and the brake staff and a chain connecting the anchor arm with an anchorage on the car frame.

2. In a brake mechanism for railway cars, the combination with a brake staff and a cylinder lever, of a multiplying lever rotatably mounted on the opposite side of the cylinder lever from the brake staff and cooperating therewith through a thrust connection, said multiplying lever having staff and anchor arms on opposite sides of the plane of the cylinder lever, a staff chain connecting the brake staff and the brake arm and an anchor chain connecting the anchor arm and an anchorage.

3. In a brake mechanism for railway cars, the combination with a brake staff and a cylinder lever, of a bracket secured to the cylinder lever and projecting away from the brake staff, a multiplying lever rotatably mounted 1n said bracket and having staff and anchor arms on opposite sides of the plane of the cylinder lever, a staff chain connected with the staff arm and in winding engagement with the brake staff and an anchor chain connecting the anchor arm with an anchorage.

4. In a brake mechanism for railway cars, the combination with a brake staff and a cylinder lever, of a multiplying lever rotatably mounted on the cylinder lever and having staff and anchor arms on opposite sides of the plane of the cylinder lever and arranged to take advantage of the fact that a point traveling in a circle will in some arcs travel principally in one direction and in other arcs will travel principally in a difierent direction, a stafi chain connecting the brake staff and the brake arm and an anchor chain connecting the anchor arm and an anchorage.

5. In a brake mechanism for railway cars, the combination of a car underframe, an inclined floor of a hopper body, an upright cylinder lever having its lower end connected with the car brakes, a brake stafi', a rigid thrust member connected with the cylinder lever, a multiplying lever journaled in said thrust member and including a staif arm and an anchor arm arranged on opposite sides of the plane of the cylinder lever and chains connecting the respective said multiplying lever with the brake stall and an anchorage.

6. In a brake mechanism for railway cars, the combination of a car underframe, a cylinder lever connected with the car brakes, a brake staff, a rotatably mounted multiplying lever carried by the cylinder lever and having a staff arm provided with a long drum surface of large diameter and a short drum surface of small diameter and an anchor arm provided with a drum surface of less diameter than the long drum surface of the stafl arm, a stall chain cooperating with the staff arm and in winding engage- .ment'with the brake stafi', and a brake chain connecting the anchor arm with an anchorage, said arms and chains being arranged on opposite sides of the plane of the cylinder lever.

7. In a brake mechanism for railway cars, the combination of a car underframe a brake staff, a cylinder lever, a rotatably mounted multiplying lever carried by the cylinder lever and having a stafl arm and an anchor arm arranged on opposite sides of the plane of said cylinder lever and chains connecting said arms with the brake staff and an anchorage respectively.

PERCY B. CAMP. 

